


The Key

by glymr, iesika



Series: Casual and Caustic [1]
Category: DCU - Comicverse, Robin (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Blindfolds, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-09
Updated: 2010-02-09
Packaged: 2017-12-13 08:59:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/822467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glymr/pseuds/glymr, https://archiveofourown.org/users/iesika/pseuds/iesika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now he's trying something else in his search for the key that will finally unlock Tim.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Key

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Casual and Caustic](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/22380) by the-protagonist. 



It'd been fun at first. Seeing what Tim would do...would *let* him do. But it wasn't just that, even if Jason didn't like to admit it. The truth was that Tim's never...responded like he did the first time. When Jason pinned him, just wanting to scare the kid a little, just wanting to see fear behind his eyes, just once.

But what he'd seen hadn't been fear.

Tim's eyes had gone wide and dazed and hot, and he'd let Jason kiss him, let Jason do whatever he _wanted_. And...god, the way he'd writhed and gasped under Jason's hands, the way he'd whimpered and arched for every *touch*...

Well, it had been a rush. Knowing he could do that to the kid, and at the same time sticking it to Bruce, taking away something that *belonged* to Bruce. Tim was such a daddy's boy. No wonder a little rebellion got him hot, and hey, if playing around with the 'black sheep' of the batfamily did it for him, who was Jason to blame him? As long as Jason got something out of it - and he *had* - it was all to the good, as far as he was concerned.

Except that it'd never been the same after that. Tim just got tenser and tenser every time. Jason tried using toys, tried using *pain*, tried bringing in a _chick_ , but Tim just seemed to get more lost in his own head with each attempt. Jason could still bring him off, but it didn't seem like it was _Jason_ that Tim was seeing anymore.

So now he's trying something else in his search for the key that will finally unlock Tim. He thought, maybe if he was blindfolded, maybe _then_ Tim would be able to relax. And at first it seems like it's working.

Tim's panting, his chest heaving, fine, almost imperceptible tremors wracking him periodically. Jason waits for Tim to start begging. And waits. Then he frowns. Something's wrong. Tim's face, where it isn't covered by the black silk, isn't flushed. It's pale. Jason steps forward and rips off the blindfold.

Tim's eyes are wide and wet and red, his breath shuddering. As Jason stares down at him, frowning, a slow flush spreads across his face, and he looks away, blinking hard and struggling to control his breathing.

Jason scowls. "If you didn't want to," the words are on his lips, accusing, before he even has time to think, "Why didn't you just *say* so?"

A stricken expression passes over Tim's face. "You wanted to," he says, then stops, looking down.

"Yeah, but you obviously don't," Jason shoots back, getting up to leave.

Tim's head jerks back up. "No, I want to!" he says, a strange note of desperation in his voice. "I _want_ to! Please...just..."

"You **don't**. Why are you fucking lying to me? Why would you *let* me if you didn't...if you--" Tim flinches, curling up on himself a little, and the words stick in Jason's throat. He's seen *rape* victims that looked less vulnerable. Self-disgust wells up in Jason as a sudden thought strikes him: what if Tim had never enjoyed *any* of it? What if he's just been *letting* Jason...but _why_?

"I'm sorry," says Tim, his hands clenching. "I...I'll do better next time. I--"

"It's not a *fucking* training exercise, Tim!" He combs one hand through his hair in frustration. "What do you *want* from me?"

"I just...I just...like you." It's so faint that Jason can hardly hear it. "I just don't want to be alone."

At Tim's first words, a shiver of nausea sweeps through Jason. Tim's only been letting Jason do those things because he thought he *had* to? As Tim goes on, though, relief washes through him, leaving him feeling stupid and angry.

"I'm just a warm body, huh?" Tim looks down and doesn't speak, which is confirmation enough for Jason. "You don't like *me*," he says with angry scorn, "You're just desperate." Tim winces, and Jason closes his eyes for a moment. "Who is it? You're hard for somebody and they won't give it to you," he says, low and furious. "Somebody big and strong, right? Somebody who can hold you down?"  Because the first time, that's how it had started. And then Jason laughs, because it's obvious, and he's an idiot.

Everybody falls for Batman sooner or later.

Tim's head is tilted down, his eyes rapidly tracking back and forth. "It's not--" he starts to say, but Jason isn't going to stay and listen to this. There's *nothing* he hates more than being second best. "It's *not* what you think--" Jason turns to go, putting his hand on the knob. "Don't go!" The voice catches at him, making him hesitate for a second. "Please! I'll...I'll...I'll do anything--"

Jason lets his head fall against the wood of the door. "Jesus, kid." He shakes his forehead against it, grinding it into the grain. "Why's it got to be me, huh? Because I can wrestle you down? Tie you up so you can't just slip the ropes?"

" _No!_ "

The vehemence is startling, but Jason doesn't turn around. He lets out a long breath. "Okay," he says, "Look. I get it, okay? You want something you're not getting. I've been there, okay? But you can't just...This is Gotham, kid. I know you've got money. You can *buy* whatever you want. It doesn't have to be me."

Tim sounds like he's drowning, breaths coming thick and choked behind Jason. "It does. Have to. Be you."

All his frustration comes out in one angry syllable as Jason finally spins around to face Tim. "Why?! Why me, Tim? Find someone else!" He wants to leave, to just _end_ this thing. He wants to get *out* of here, away from...whatever this fucked up *thing* is. But Jason finds he can't leave without knowing what the hell is going on.

Tim's shivering a little - not constantly, just the occasional tremor he can't quite suppress, the aftermath of adrenaline, his hands fisted in the sheets on either side of him. Jason comes over and stares down at him, then sits heavily on the bed, almost collapsing on it. Tim flinches a little, but at the same time he sways closer, as though drawn by a magnet.

Part of Jason - the angry part - just wants to hold him down and fuck him again. Because at least that would make some kind of *sense*. He *knows* Tim would let him.

Except...the nagging doubt eats at him. If Tim really hadn't enjoyed all those things they'd done, if he'd let Jason hurt him, practically *force* some woman on him, and he'd hated it the whole time...then Jason's no better than the scum he used to beat up on. No better than the assholes who used to give the girls black eyes and _worse_ just for fun, just because they *could*. The thought makes Jason sick again, and he shakes his head.

"I'm sorry," says Tim.

"For *what*?" says Jason irritably, and Tim seems to shrink in on himself. Jason's eyes narrow.

"'Anything', huh?" he says, and Tim's head whips up. Slowly, he nods. Jason picks up the blindfold again. Holds it out. "Put it on," he says.

Tim doesn't hesitate. He reaches out and takes the piece of black silk from Jason, carefully tying it around his eyes, adjusting it until Jason is certain that he can't see a thing. Then he lets his hands fall to his sides and closes them into fists and sits there, waiting.

Jason covers one of Tim's hands with his own, watching as the kid relaxes slightly. Tim's fingers uncurl until they're lightly clasping his.

"Why do you hate the blindfold so much?" asks Jason. Tim's fingers twitch under his.

"I...don't like to be alone."  
  
"You're _not_ alone. I'm right here-"  
  
"But you _could_ leave. I wouldn't even know. You could - could walk out. And I would just...wait."  
  
"You would just...wait."  
  
Tim swallows hard, and Jason can tell that his eyes are flickering back and forth evasively behind the blindfold. Finally he sets his jaw, like he thinks Jason will be *mad* or something, and says, "Yes. For...for as long as I could."

God, that's fucked up. And there's a stupid little impulse to *call* him on it, to let go and back away and wait and see *exactly* how long it takes Tim to pull the thing off, but Jason isn't _quite_ that much of a bastard. Yet.

"You're afraid I'll blindfold you and then leave you alone," says Jason. That *would* be a pretty nasty thing to do. Had someone done something like that to Tim? Blindfolded him and locked him up in a closet when he was a little kid or something? What had Bruce snatched this one from, anyway? It might explain why the kid is so gone on Bruce...

But wait, Tim's family was rich...not that being rich protected you from shit like that, Jason admits to himself. Being rich probably just makes it easier to buy people off. Being rich means high fences and shutters and big, open spaces between you and your neighbors. He remembers his first night at Wayne Manor, alone in that big room, knowing that if he yelled for help, no one would even hear him. Somehow that was worse than being back on the street and knowing that anyone that heard him would almost certainly run the other way.

But none of this explains why Tim would just *let* Jason...Why him? "Why me?" he says as his thoughts swing around again.

"I want...I wanted...I w-watch--" he cuts himself off mid-word, looking terrified, then blurts out, "I've wanted you since I was *twelve*."

Jason blinks. "What? You didn't even _know_ me when you were twelve." Tim opens his mouth, then closes it again and bites his lip. Jason growls. "Tell me," he says.

Tim makes a small, broken sound. "I _can't_ ," he says miserably.

Jason resists the urge to shake him. " _Tell_ me."

"I can't, I. I've already given up too much."

"Tell me or I'll -- I'll _leave_."

Tim makes that awful sound again and his hand clenches convulsively around Jason's, but he sucks in air and starts talking. "The first time. The first time I ever had an orgasm while I was awake, I was thinking of you as I touched myself." His voice shakes. "I once followed you for two days without going home. You and Batman...you. You used to...he used to...you used to touch each other. You would elbow him to get his attention. I remember, one time you actually smacked him on the ass," his mouth twitches for a moment in a not-quite smile, "and he smacked you back. And he used to...he would grab your arm, or brush your hair out of your eyes...so, so casually...and I watched you and I wanted...I wanted you to touch *me*." His head drops. "I wanted you to touch me," he repeats, sounding ashamed.

Jason doesn't say anything. There really isn't anything *to* say, except...

He reaches out and brushes Tim's hair away from his forehead. "Like this?" he says. Tim takes a shuddering breath and nods. Jason lets his hands trail down Tim's face, over the blindfold and across his cheeks, then slides one hand to stroke his neck and the other down his arm. Tim shivers, and Jason takes a breath. "I won't leave you," he says, and feels the pulse in Tim's neck _surge_ at the words. "I'm not promising anything for tomorrow," he adds hastily.

"I know--"

"But tonight, right now," he goes on as though Tim hadn't spoken, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm here." Tim arches into Jason's hands. "As long as you keep the blindfold on, I won't leave you." Tim actually _moans_ , a flush spilling down his neck and chest. Jason keeps touching him, not even sexually, just touching his sides and back and arms and hands and ears. Wrapping a hand around his thigh through the sheet, and then yanking the sheet away, and Tim is as hard as Jason has ever seen him.

That girl had gone down on him for more than twenty minutes, and he'd never gotten more than half-hard, not until Jason had wrapped his arms around him from behind and pinched his nipples and sucked his neck. Now he's blood-dark and erect, and when Jason whispers, "I'll be here when you wake up," pre-come spurts out of the tip, making it shine in the low light. Tim whimpers.

Jason wraps a hand around him, gentle, his other hand still stroking and touching Tim's skin, his mouth busy kissing Tim's neck and face. It doesn't take much, only a few strokes and Tim comes *hard*, making low, strangled sounds as he coats Jason's fist.

He's never come so fast, not even the first time Jason touched him.

Jason's found it. The key that unlocks Tim.

Now what the hell is he supposed to do with it?


End file.
